Tuesday, 21 February 2023

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (19:00): (41) My adjournment today is for the Minister for Environment, and the action that I seek is that the minister meet with the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust to discuss providing them adequate funding to perform their fundamental duties to keep the doors open but also to consider a business case for accepted works to develop the racecourse and the open space that is in the middle of the racecourse reserve itself. As I have mentioned a number of times in this Parliament, Glen Eira has the lowest amount of open space of any municipality, and we have got 54 hectares of open space right in the heart of Caulfield waiting to be activated. In 2016 I first advocated for the creation of the trust, and in fact at the time the Minister for Environment, the former member for Bellarine, was sitting at the table and I leaned across and said, ‘I’m going to make this adjournment tonight. Can we work together and get a new reserve?’ That is what happened – we got a new trust, we got a group that was formed and we got a plan to actually activate that open space with running tracks, with an environment park in the heartland of it, sporting facilities, ovals and a whole range of really fantastic things. Unfortunately the dollars have not followed.

At the election the Liberal–Nationals committed $30 million to activating stage 1 of the reserve. The ability here provides for a whole range of partnerships between community to be able to take that space to create so many different other community uses for that space going forward. I appreciate money is tight, but can I say the opportunity is still ripe. I would ask the minister to meet with me to see what we can do. The trust is at a key point now of being able to keep their doors open. They need the funding, they need the support. I have spoken to the member for Oakleigh, who is very, very supportive of this, and he and I have worked very closely on this. I think it is a great opportunity in a bipartisan way to get this happening to ensure that we provide the open space, certainly to my residents of Caulfield but also to be able to take what is a great opportunity for the state of Victoria. It is a main precinct. Caulfield Racecourse, as we all know, has fantastic races – the Minister for Racing is here at the table now, and he knows just how important racing is – but we also have the ability to provide sport, environment, open space and a market has started there that the Caulfield rotary have also partaken in. All of those are opportunities waiting to happen, and I ask the minister to work with me to make them happen.